New Yorkers can thank themselves for keeping the lights and AC units working this summer, especially as July shapes up to be the hottest on record.
Con Edison, the city’s utility provider with a troubled past of blackouts, has stepped up their public service ads, asking residents to save energy. They think it’s making a difference.
“We made a number of customer appeals asking people to conserve and they did,” said Con Ed spokesperson Allan Drury. “We think that limited the outages.”
This week is the four-year anniversary of the 2006 blackout in Queens, where nearly 200,000 people languished without power for nine days.
“We lived through hell,” said Queens City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. “It was like the Third World, people lining up for water, no air conditioning, no refrigeration.”
So far this summer, there have been no wide-scale blackouts. “We’re not taking a victory lap yet,” said Drury. “There’s a long way to go this summer.”
